That's Not Us: Memories
by The Triangle Prone
Summary: A series of one-shots loosely following a plot that explains the inner relationships (or lack of them) between the Characters of "That's Not Us" (due to be written and posted soon.) Everything is set Pre-Story. Minor uses of Human!Kuma and OCs (very minor.) Main pairing: AmeCan. Rated for swearing, violence and nudity.
1. A Team Formed

_Memory: A Team Formed (8 years previous to story)_

With every job there comes promotions. When Yao was 28 he was given his prize of six years of work. Rome one day nodded at him and informed him he was now a leader of his own team. With a pat to the back of congratulations and some folders being handed to him, Yao was left to gawk and accept it.

The next day he realised not all that was gold glittered. His promotion came with strings attached. In the form of one Ivan Braginski, he had his first member of his team. The man was a reforming white collar who oddly, wasn't in white collar for the normal reasons. With the first signs of stress sitting in, Yao looked through the folders Rome gave him so he could have a few extra members to balance this man.

Hours later he only found one he liked, a 19 year old academy completer. His name was Alfred F. Jones and the look in his photo, in that man's eyes. It was too much like his friend to ignore. And with that Alfred was assigned to his team.

It took a few months for Alfred and Ivan to get along. But in that time they couldn't do much with computers save when they borrowed another team's tactical member. One day there was a folder on Yao's desk. When he asked the other two where it came from both of them shrugged and went back to doing whatever they were previously. With a groan the freshly turned 29 year old opened the folder.

Behind the flap rested a picture of a skinny blonde with eyes closer to Ivan in colour than Alfred. His nose was slightly upturned and glasses at the end of them. A quick glance to the name and age the Asian laught. "A sixteen year old?"

Matthew showed up the next day with a large sets of bags and a rather bemused look. Yao raised a brow as the boy claimed an office and started building a computer space.

"Um, excuse me?" Alfred approached the teen as Yao watched

"Hmm? Do you happen to have gum?" Matthew replied as he only looked up to see who was talking to him before he went back to building.

Caught off guard, Alfred fumbled for a minute to get gum, tossing it at the smaller before asking "who are you?"

"Matthew Williams, tactical genius." He said with a shrug. "Rome assigned me here."

Two weeks later, Matthew still stayed around. No matter how much Yao felt uneasy and he tried to call his higher ups, no one would take the teen off his hands. They got a case and Matthew set up a van. They learnt that day that there was a reason he told Alfred "Tactical Genius." With that, he was accepted fully into the group.

_Memory end._


	2. Oral Fixation

_Memory: Oral Fixation (8 years previous to story)_

"You are staring again." Ivan's voice cut in, snapping Alfred out of his reverie. He felt heat creeping up his neck and he could do nothing but pray it didn't reach his cheeks. He couldn't help it. It took Matthew 20 minutes to eat yogurt. It was odd and made him want to watch.

Besides, the teen still rubbed him the wrong way, and he was taught to observe the enemy until you know everything about them. And, honestly, it wasn't just the amount of time it took to eat the yogurt, it was how he did it. The small male hummed and chewed on the spoon. He never used metal spoons, he always used plastic ones. And then he took the spoon with him! Once he saw the poor remains of the spoon used at breakfast. It looked maimed and gnawed on like a dog's bone.

But that wasn't all of it either. They seemed to always be asked between cases for gum, no matter how much they gave him, sooner rather than later he would ask for more. And don't get Alfred started on the lollipop sticks. They were everywhere, when they hadn't been unrolled by Matthew's wicked mouth.

Then it clicked. Matthew went through phases with the chewing and he seemed to suckle things too. Almost like a teething puppy or someone with an chewing habit.

"Jones?" Once more Alfred was brought to the present, this time the muse of his thoughts stood before him. He had his tablet in on hand and the poor chewed up spoon in the other. "We have a case. Hey, do you have any gum?"

"I, uh, nope, not today. Hey, I'm gonna ask you a question and it might sound weird. Do you have a chewing problem?"

"The term is oral fixation. And yes, I do happen to have one." Matthew said with a rather bored tone as he stuck the spoon in mouth and he poked around his tablet. He walked away, assuming Alfred would follow.

And Alfred would, if only to observe him more.

_Memory End._


	3. First Blood

_Memory: First Blood (8 years previous to story)_

After seven months of the team being together, Alfred had his first brush with death by a gun. Matthew was giving orders worthy of Assassin's Creed chase scenes, telling the American which roof to hop onto, fleeing from a gang that happened upon them while they were looking for the Designed. However the tactical genius didn't see far enough ahead as the gang ended up cornering Alfred on a building far too tall to even fathom jumping.

For all of his worth, Alfred did fight them back, rather well too. But over the coms the sound of a single gunshot rung. Fear and disbelief shot through the tactical genius' heart and he demanded Alfred to reply to him. He was waved off and Yao told him strictly not to call the ambulance. Alfred was in pain, he managed to fight off the last gang member but when Matthew asked him questions, trying to get eyes enough to see his field profiler, he was met with groans and half uttered words.

Ivan found him first. He told Matthew the damage and Yao voiced to pick the boy up, because that's what Alfred was, a nineteen year old boy. Ivan got him off the roof and to the car Yao picked up. Cloth was pressed to the wound and they returned to base camp. Along the way, Ivan fished the bullet out and sewed it up. The cloth was wrapped back up as they pulled in.

Yao opened the door and was followed by Ivan who went off in search for gauze to better cover Alfred's wound. The American himself was left to fend for his own way of walking. He was greeted shortly after closing the door by a rather troubled looking Matthew. The smaller blonde stormed right up to him, earning a perked brow from Yao. Without a word, Matthew lifted the jacket off the wound and placed a shaking hand over the tied cloth. To Alfred's credit he did nothing but tighten his jaw when the pressure was added. Periwinkle eyes stared at their own hand before following the wounded shoulder to a set of deep blue. The spark of panic was slowly dying in the waves of relief and Matthew let out the breath he knew fully well he was holding.

As Ivan returned with gauze, he and his boss was greeted with the sight of Matthew grabbing Alfred by the back of his neck and crashing their lips together. Almost instantly the older replied to the kiss, turning it into a dance that was as sloppy as they were young. Soft noises were excited from both of them and Matt's hand moved from the wounded shoulder to Alfred's hair. The two older men were left to shake their heads and comment silently as they saw this coming.

The make-out session somehow moved to the couch with Matthew beneath the injured Alfred. They only parted when their bodies realised that they needed oxygen, not the other's carbon dioxide. Even then their lips weren't far apart and as soon as the panting lessened they started again, hungry and without care.

It was actually only five minutes before they broke apart and settled with Matthew towards the front of the couch and Alfred behind him, his left and injured arm hanging loosely around Matt's middle. The smaller blonde turned sideways and he smacked Alfred on the side of his head. "Don't you_ ever_ get shot again, you fucknut."

"Only if you can promise I won't get kissed like this again. Because getting shot is worth this." Alfred replied cheekily, pressing a kiss to Matthew's exposed neck. He was smacked again and called an idiot. Still worth it.

_Memory end._


	4. Com Talks

_Memory: Com Talks (Unknown years previous to story)_

Like most things, it started out with Matthew humming and saying something grossly inappropriate such as "darn, the Brits got rid of porn..."

And Alfred of course gave into the urge (he always did) and said something along the lines of, "what? Why? Who would do that?"

"The Brits." Matthew's reply was factual, quick and slightly offended.

"But, really? It's just porn, everyone likes it."

"Nehn, guess the Brit's don't."

"Matt, have you_ watched_ British porn? They are kinky fuckers." The grin in Alfred's face could be seen from the street cameras. He seemed proud to have that knowledge, or something.

"Can't say I have. Well I guess no one really hates porn."

"Mattie," the nickname was pulled out and after a small pause the American added, "the _Pope_ doesn't even hate porn. The _POPE_!"

There was a pause, Ivan groaned. Then Matt stated after it appeared the conversation had dropped, "the Pope used to host orgies- I'm serious Pumpkinbutt, stop laughing."

"I don't doubt you, Honey! I mean, if you were the Pope wouldn't you want orgies?"

"If I was the Pope the whole team would be in my orgies."

Yao cut in and made a strangled noise while Ivan tried not to avoid blood loss, he was flushing so hard. Both then either took out their coms or told the blondes to _shut the fuck up._

_Memory End_


	5. A Cheeky Perfect

_Memory: A Cheeky Perfect (8 years previous to story)_

At the annual evaluation the first year Matthew was on the team he was asked "what's your position?"

The blonde paused then smiled. "I prefer doggy actually, or reverse cowboy."

The man across from him shifted and ducked his head some, avoiding eye contact. Matthew laught through his nose and then gave a real answer, "I'm the tactical genius. The group's computers expert and watcher."

"And what are you good at?"

"Not much, just finding and solving encrypted messages, the dirty secrets you hide, fixing and restoring computers, watching cameras - I have a good eye despite my glasses- cooking and oh, right, sucking."

The man visibly gulped as he lifted his eyes to look at the blonde, watching as he drew his tongue over his teeth. The man cleared his throat and pressed on. "What are your weaknesses that you bring to your team?"

"I would have to say not being able to fight very well and my oral fixation."

"Oral fixation?"

"Sucking and chewing with a need. If I'm not using my brain enough or if boredom sets in I get urges to suck and chew on anything I can reach."

The man watched as the blonde talked, putting a finger around his lips and occasionally doing as he was speaking of. It was as though talking about it just made the urge worse. Quickly he wrote down some false thing of him being perfectly fit and a hard worker then fled the room, face flushed.

"You got a perfect again? How do you manage this?!" Yao whined to their tactical genius who pulled free his lollipop, now just a stick, and replied.

"Well, I guess I tend to share a weakness with them."

_Memory End_


	6. Sweets

_Memory: Sweets (7 years previous to story)_

Alfred and the team left a lot. Being under 18, Matthew simply didn't go with them, it was easier to keep him safe at HQ. When they came back most of the chew-able food was gone and the poor plastic remains of spoons and forks were everywhere the youngest blonde was.

So, Alfred took to bringing him home sweets for the ever teething puppy they called a tactics expert. Yao and Ivan barely raised a brow though the team leader did made a grumble or two about spoiling the teen too much might rotten him.

And over one particularly long case that Matthew seemed hyper whenever they were talking, made Alfred ponder the wide team leader's words and so he bought slightly different treats for Matthew this time.

Matthew looked rather upset, "Sugar-free gum?"

"So you don't get cavities."

"Al, I all but IV soda and the lollipops have sugar."

"Maybe I don't want you to get too sweet?"

"I'm not melting in the rain, am I?"

"You're welcome." Alfred grinned cheekily while the now seventeen year old pulled a rather soured face.

_Memory End_


	7. Pet Names

_Memory: Pet Names (6 years previous)_

Matthew was pressed between a wall and one of his new(ish) teammates. The towering blond's breath warmed his face and the smell of sweat clung to the air. Blue eyes bore into purplish ones and a small laugh echoed through the smaller's lips. The conversation was dead and now they were basking in the closeness of their bodies. It was weird, new and exciting.

"We have a case." An accented voice cut through the moment. Matthew laught again and pushed the hunk of sweating muscle away. "Thank you, Yao."

"Oh, and darlin'?" The taller blond hummed as he walked towards the showers. Matthew perked a brow. "Don't call me cupcake."

"How abo' Sweetie Pie?"

"How about no?"

"Interesting."

Matthew fumbled with the phone. He was a mess. Everyone was chasing after the wrong person. He couldn't tell him because his fingers just wouldn't work. They thought it was a woman, a woman who was burying people alive and turning them into fancified mushroom food. They were wrong. It wasn't. It was a man. "Of course...this is what fear feels like isn't it?"

"And just what do you fear?" A voice asked behind him, causing the tactical genius to squeak and spun around. There stood a man as lanky but full of strength. Fear sunk into his heart as he was approached by the criminal. "I think the mushrooms will enjoy your mind the most. You have such a high IQ."

"Oh? Says who?"

"The fact you don't know fear."

"I'll keep that in mind." Matthew said offhandedly a he clicked buttons on his phone. He, by some miracle, called Alfred's phone. "Want me to express how clever you are? The ones designed like you always need that validation."

"Then validate me." The man crooned as he lunged towards Matthew, blue eyes flashing dangerously.

Alfred rushed onto the roof and was greeted with the sight of Matthew sitting on a man, hands pressed against the other's chest. He looked as though he was trying to reassure the man. "Mattie."

He drew closer and saw that no matter how much Matt tried his best to bring breath back into him, the whole head bashed in would prevent that. "Mattie."

Matthew didn't respond. He looked green and panicked and unaware of anything other than the need to bring back the man he had so violently destroyed. Alfred didn't expect the scream when he reached out and tried to pry Matt away. "Whoa, Mattie. Calm down."

The tactical genius took one look at Alfred then started to cry. "I-I! I didn't know-w-w-w deat-ah-ah-ath was s-s-soooo vi-vi-violent!"

Alfred held their youngest member to him and stroked the locks of blonde hair. So he had never killed? Though he supposed it made sense, this was his first time out. Matthew continued to sob and when the other two arrived he had calmed considerably. "He looks bashed in, like a pumpkin."

The other three laught. He was morbidly correct.

It was their first argument. Just weeks after that day on the roof, yeah, that one. Matthew didn't want to go back out into the field with them. But they were going to be on the other side of the country. Alfred was trying to convince him to go. Instead of calling the American his given name, Matthew had accidentally called him "Pumpkin."

The air was thick with tension, then the two broke down into laughter. "Fine, you don't have to come."

"Really?" The voice dared to be hopeful.

"Yeah, and darlin'?"

"Hmm?"

"I like Pumpkin."

"Interesting."

_Memory End_


	8. A Girl

_Memory: A Girl (6 years previous to story)_

Matthew hummed rather annoyingly into their coms. As a result Ivan took his out. They had a case that didn't take them away from their HQ. It was both refreshing and disconcerting. Or at least to the other three seemed rather displeased with the person going around and killing a group of sixth grade girls. Personally the 'reformed' criminal could not literally care less that something like that was happening.

However, it was his job to end these things. Yao had put together a possible profile and Matthew was currently trying to locate people to fit that. With that said, Ivan and Alfred were out on coms checking whatever Matthew found.

He was standing next to a cafe, looking at his watch when a girl approached him. She was wearing the uniform of the same school of the dead girls. He barely looked up before she asked "Do you work for the government?"

"Hmm? I suppose I do." He took a moment to really look her over. She was slight and skin looked personally kissed by the sun. Her hair was curly and fell across her shoulders. With eyes shaped like almonds and just the same shade.

"Have you ever killed someone?"

"If it were in my job."

"So, have you?"

"Have you?" He asked in return, raising a brow.

"If it were my job." She hummed.

Ivan laught through his nose. "So, have_ you_?"

"Yes." She confessed and it made the Russian pause. Tilting his head he asked if she was sure that she had. She nodded and he asked her why. She couldn't be any older than twelve. "They were so awful. Bullying me all the time. And I learned...I learned that if you cut the head off the snake it dies."

Ivan nodded as she paused to compose herself. She sighed and said. "But i was still angry. And so I continued- it felt good! Then there wasn't any of the group left and I felt so empty and not good."

"So why are you here? No one seems to know." Ivan said.

"You do."

"Does that make you want to kill me?" He asked. She shook her head and he sighed. He held out his hand and she took it. She seemed to understand. He had to take her and she was to come with him.

That day Ivan learned that not all of the Designed were evil and deserved death. That day he met Maria Carriedo. He also learned never to trust the profile completely.

And he relearned how to keep a secret.

_Memory End_


	9. 21st

_Memory: 21st (6 years previous to story)_

On Alfred's twenty-first birthday he got Matthew drunk. Not that Yao and Ivan should have allowed that, but it happened nevertheless. That night, a tipsy Alfred learnt a lot from his much drunker counterpart.

Firstly he learnt that Matthew was a giggly drunk. He giggled at everything, from a slurred word to his hand being held before his face. He seemed amused with everything and anything. Alfred also learnt that Matthew was a very candid drunk. He shared and then over-shared just for good measure. Not that Alfred was truly complaining.

Because of his over-sharing, as they laid side by side in Alfred's overly plush king, he learnt many things. Like that Matthew has an oral fixation most likely because of the nervous energy built up from not being hugged enough as a child and told 'I love you.' And that he liked Alfred, a lot, and not in the way he liked Ivan or Yao and because of that Matt was scared but assured that he and Alfred had something that couldn't be broken.

Alfred also learnt that Matthew had a clear vision on what "_us_" was between them. No matter how drunk Matthew got that night, he wouldn't let Alfred do certain things with the excuse that '_it's not us._'

He learnt that Matthew was raised to be a tactical genius and didn't know anything else. He learnt that Matthew spoke the languages of their teammates as well as French. He just never bothered telling the two he understood their complaining. He learnt that Matthew had a soft smile and genuinely cared what people thought, even if later he deemed it a stupid notion.

Most of all, Alfred learnt that night as Matthew started to doze, tucked safely in Alfred's arms and facing away from the older blond, he loved the computer wiz. He hummed softly, leaning forward to brush his mouth against the exposed neck and hearing a soft scolding of "that's not _us_..."

"It could be."

"It really couldn't."

"It will be."

"It really won't."

"Love you."

"Love you too." And before the words really registered to either boy, they dozed off, pacified by booze.

_Memory End_


	10. Meeting the Parents

_Memory: Meeting the Parents (4 years previous to story)_

The case landed on Yao's desk with more force than needed on that particular morning. With a tired glare, he looked up to the person who did the offensive action. A rather ruffled Matthew greeted him with wide eyes and a nervous, no worried, look. "We need to take this case."

And that's how the team was shipped off to D.C. to protect Matthew's parents. The objective was simple enough. There had been threats made to the tactical genius' mother's office. All they had to do was seek out the source and smite it before harm came to the desk workers Matthew's mother ran.

If only anything was truly that easy. Matthew in a fit of his youth, forced the team to actually visit his parents so he could be absolutely sure that they were intact. This led the foursome to be welcomed to dinner and an offer too nice to refuse- setting up home base at the William's house. They had space aplenty and then some. It almost made Yao question how much Mr. Williams was paid as a scientist but he decided against it.

That said, Mrs. Williams went out her way the next day to wake everyone up for breakfast. When she found Yao asleep on the third living room couch she sighed but with a smile and then gently knocked on the door of Ivan's room, the tall Russian opening a moment later asking for coffee. For the life of her she just couldn't find Alfred so she decided to wake up her son.

Now, she didn't know that her prized child sought out Alfred as much as the American did him for sleeping off a case. She didn't know about "_us_" between them. So when she returned to the kitchen to find her son looking for yogurt wearing the button down shirt that she swore Alfred was wearing the night before, well, she didn't know what to say.

Nor did she have the words for when Alfred walked in, looking sleepy but well dressed, going right to behind her son, her barely twenty son, and grabbing the milk pulling away after dipping his head down to press a kiss to the exposed nape of Matthew's neck. Madeline Williams was completely speechless.

Her husband wasn't so awe struck. But it did take him a couple of days to catch on. Everyday Ivan would stay with Matthew at home while Yao and Alfred would go to work with one of the Williams. Every night Alfred and Matthew were on each other, and not in a friendly way. They all but sat on the other's lap at the dinner table and that was whenever Matthew wasn't trying to feed the older blond his food or Alfred letting his younger steal some of his dessert.

And then there was the moaning. That's how Mr. Williams found out. He was walking innocently to his study, glasses perched on his nose, coffee in one hand, the local newspaper in the other. It was around ten. Everyone tucked in for the night, another day with little results. (They were getting closer though, they really were.) As he passed his son's room he heard the faint laughter and the even fainter sounds of moans. He paused with a red face as he overheard Agent Jones teasing his son and the needy cry of said agent's first name. It was safe to say he spent the next morning looking his prized child over for bite marks but only finding any on the agent that was overheard teasing him. When he asked oh-so-casually where they came from, he was answered with a simple, "Mattie had an attack."

An attack of what?

And when was Matthew shortened to _Mattie_?

*&*TTP*&*

Both parents were confused yet assured that their son was with one of his team members. It didn't help that when the team finally, finally caught wind of the unsub and gave chase that they had to listen to the one sided flirting between them. **_Pumpkin_**? What a pet name!

Alfred found the unsub first of course he did. He was the perfect height and weight to climb quicker than the taller Ivan and older Yao. What he didn't really expect was to be greeted with a boxcutter to the arms. A few punches there and a kick to the groin sent the man who wanted Matt's mom dead to the rooftop. He should have known better than to let his guard down as he leant over to arrest the man. The unsub lunged at Alfred and they rolled around in the gravel, exchanging hits like a redneck couple on Valentine's Day. Yao showed up just as the tide was turning against Alfred (from blood lost mind you) and pried them apart, hitting a pressure point and then cuffing the man. "You alright?"

"Y..yeah... Hey, the world is fuzzy."

"Do you have a concussion?"

"Think so."

"Great."

"Did you call me Pumpkin just now?"

"Don't pass out!"

Alfred came to with the groggy kiss of sleep. It was quickly forgotten in favour for the soreness in his ribs and soft hands tending to the cuts on his arms. No matter how much Matthew typed he never seemed anymore calloused than when they first met. "What hand lotion do you use?"

"What?"

"Hand lotion. What kind?"

"Pumpkin, you're stupid." Matthew laught as he applied band aids to his profiler's arms. "And stop getting injured, will you?"

Alfred laught and said, "no, because then you'll stop caring."

"Nothing will make me stop caring." The younger argued, his cheeks losing the battle with blushing. Alfred chuckled and reached up, ignoring the smarting of his arm to do so and placing his hand on the nape of Matthew's neck, where the heat and blush also sat.

"Good."

"Are you two using protection?" A fatherly tone asked. There was no joking or hidden amusement in the question and the accent was more French than Russian or Chinese. The smaller blond jolted in his seat and moved away from his injured teammate. The aforementioned slowly brought his hand to his side and looked at Matthew's parents standing in the doorway.

"Protection?" Alfred asked, scoffing almost.

"During intercourse." Madeline clarified earning a rather pitiful "_Mooooooooooom!_" from her son.

"We don't have intercourse, Mrs. Williams." The American stated flatly and if he added _much to my distaste,_ well only he knew.

Madeline turned to her rather red son and asked him if it were true. He nodded and told her "that's not us!"

"But, son, I heard you moaning."

"Dad! Ew!"

"And I told you, he was having an attack."

"What kind of attack?" The FBI worker seemed concerned for her son. But only slightly.

"Wait...You've never told them?

"Told us-"

"It never really came up!"

"More like you never brought it up. You've had it for years!"

"Had wha-"

"And? What am I supposed to say 'hey mama, papa, I'm thirteen now..and well, I have an oral fixation'?"

"Yes."

"You have a what?" Madeline's voice managed to cut through this time. She seemed really dubious that her son had something so clearly observed and it was kept from them.

"An oral fixation. I like sucking and chewing on stuff. The other night I had the urge to chew on something. Alfred wouldn't give me any gum. The urge grew worse."

"He ended up biting me." Alfred laught but it died in his throat from the glare the whole Williams family gave him. Well, at least he knew it was in Matt's genes.

*&*TTP*&*

Breakfast was awkward but Ivan seemed to bask in it (oh how he enjoyed Alfred's misery). Mr. and Mrs. Williams didn't seem to believe a word the younger blondes said and the team left before any more damage could be done.

And perhaps for Alfred's birthday a few weeks later he got a giant box as a "welcome to the family" present from Mr. and Mrs. Williams. And perhaps in that box there was among the normal gifts of socks and shirts and a new video game or two there was a few boxes of condoms, ranging in sizes with a note of _"please wrap up, Madeline Williams. P.S. come back to D.C. for Thanksgiving."_

_Memory End_


	11. The Intern's Family

_Memory: The Intern's Family (4 years previous to story)_

Kuma sighed as he bent over and scooped up a trail of clothes. A heat wave had hit Miami and he supposed it was only fair that they weren't wearing necessary clothes. Tossing the armful onto the table, he looked around. Ivan was the only one fully clothed and he was chatting away on the phone to someone in Spanish. When he picked that up, Kuma didn't know, but it seemed to be a personal call.

Matthew was draped over Alfred's lap, glasses perched at the very end of his nose and hair pulled high into a ponytail. It was frizzy at best and just messy at worst. His eyes were half open and his jaw moved lazily with gum. Kuma watched how he trailed idle fingers across the tanner skin of Alfred's shoulder while the field op was playing video games, his tongue sticking out in concentration.

The small intern laught softly as Alfred's score varied based off of just what Matthew was doing. Whenever the finger glided onto Alfred's glossy lower back, the American seemed to get a lower score. Why did they insist they weren't dating or having sex? Their bodies, and minds, told otherwise.

Kuma then turned to the kitchen, but was stopped by a glare from Yao who was making something, probably cookies. He pointed to the laundry and demanded Kuma "see to it." With a clicking sound of his tongue, the Chinese man went back to making the treats. It was a slow, hot day, but only an hour later the five were sitting around the telly, eating cookies with a nice cool glass of milk.

It felt like family.

_Memory End_


	12. Aided Showers

_Memory: The Intern's Family (4 years previous to story)_

Kuma sighed as he bent over and scooped up a trail of clothes. A heat wave had hit Miami and he supposed it was only fair that they weren't wearing necessary clothes. Tossing the armful onto the table, he looked around. Ivan was the only one fully clothed and he was chatting away on the phone to someone in Spanish. When he picked that up, Kuma didn't know, but it seemed to be a personal call.

Matthew was draped over Alfred's lap, glasses perched at the very end of his nose and hair pulled high into a ponytail. It was frizzy at best and just messy at worst. His eyes were half open and his jaw moved lazily with gum. Kuma watched how he trailed idle fingers across the tanner skin of Alfred's shoulder while the field op was playing video games, his tongue sticking out in concentration.

The small intern laught softly as Alfred's score varied based off of just what Matthew was doing. Whenever the finger glided onto Alfred's glossy lower back, the American seemed to get a lower score. Why did they insist they weren't dating or having sex? Their bodies, and minds, told otherwise.

Kuma then turned to the kitchen, but was stopped by a glare from Yao who was making something, probably cookies. He pointed to the laundry and demanded Kuma "see to it." With a clicking sound of his tongue, the Chinese man went back to making the treats. It was a slow, hot day, but only an hour later the five were sitting around the telly, eating cookies with a nice cool glass of milk.

It felt like family.

_Memory End_


	13. Thanksgiving Dinner

_Memory: Thanksgiving Dinner (4 years previous to story)_

In the history of awkward dinners, the Thanksgiving after meeting Matthew's parents would have to rank pretty high. It was one thing to have a big family like Alfred did over and share embarrassing stories, and it was another to have dinner with a family friend on the holiday.

This was neither of these things. Mrs. Williams insisted she was called "Mama" by the American while Mr. Jones wouldn't accept anything other than "Sir" or "John." What was worse was that they wanted the boys to come for the whole week. Madeline wanted Matthew to go out on Black Friday with her. After a heated whisper argument between the two it was decided that they would visit from Wednesday to Saturday of that week. It was enough to appease Matthew's mom and now explained why the four were sitting at a large table covered with enough food to save all the children in Africa from death.

At first it wasn't that bad, Mr. Williams was only glaring some of the time at whom he believed to be his son's boyfriend. He asked if Alfred followed any sports. When Alfred joked that all of Miami's sports teams kinda sucked, the table shared an awkward laugh before falling silent.

It didn't last long since Mrs. Williams was around.

"Have you been using our presents, Alfred?"

"Mama! Why is he choking?!" Matthew yelped as he watched his teammate start violently coughing and smacking his chest, trying to dislodge some of the stuffing that decided it wanted a visit to his lungs. The crime scene expert merely watched with purse lips when Matthew nervously hovered around Alfred and the American calming down, red-faced and still lightly tapping his chest.

Dinner continued and Matthew would look nervously between Alfred and his mother. Just what did she send him that invoked such a reaction? Curiosity gnawed at him but he didn't ask.

Well, until he had three bottles of wine in him and was safely in his room that his parents set up better with the assumption that he and Alfred would be sharing. Of course the look on the much less drunk blond was priceless as he tried to avoid the question.

How could one person say "yeah, your parents didn't believe the whole 'no sex between us thing' and sent not one but multiple boxes of condoms to me" without sounding weird? You couldn't so he wouldn't even try.

It got harder to not try when Matthew pressed the question, and himself, upon Alfred. Kisses were followed as the tactical genius tried to pry the answer out with his own lips. Kisses led to small bouts of making out and hands grabbing, but never to sex. That was silly. That didn't make breakfast in the morning any less awkward than the first time they had awkward breakfasts. Only this time Ivan wasn't around to enjoy the death glare Alfred got from a none-to-please John as he observed once more the bite marks Matthew left and the messy hair said boy came down with, as well as the first shirt he reached, one of Alfred's. The hangover the smaller sported didn't help either as he clung to his profiler in his pain.

Alfred didn't want to be alone with John that day. He knew what chemists could do.

And he might have begged Matthew not to go with Madeline, but that was a different memory.

Memory End.


	14. Nosy Interns

Memory: Nosy Intern

The HQ was a mess. With case after case after case being slapped onto the team's desk, there was little time in between to clean up the place. Now while Matthew stayed behind, he was far from OCD with his surroundings.

"We need an intern." Ivan voiced one day. He had just returned from a phone call, to whom no one knew, and he stared at the place with a frown. Matthew and Alfred were like children and never picked up their toys. Case and point, the rather alarming pile of yogurt containers and strewn clothes that belonged to the older blond. Why they weren't in Alfred's office, or better yet his apartment no one knew. Currently the pair were lounging on the couch, Matthew chewing on something or another while Alfred blew up zombies in yet another apocalypse themed game.

"An intern?"

"We can't hire a maid, now can we, Yao?" Ivan shrugged as his boss' mind started to work. They could use extra hands around the place, even if it was mostly cleaning.

"I'll think about it, aru."

"Hnn."

Kuma was a bright boy. He just needed a chance to prove he was worth a team. So, when he was contacted to start an internship, he was more than excited. Well, until he saw just what this new team provided. His first day there he noticed that Matthew was rather rude when he wasn't flirty and was a disaster waiting to happen to anything other than technology. Alfred was carefree and messy at best, though Kuma accidentally made Matt snap at him, which earnt him a pointed look from the older blond for the rest of the week. Ivan merely smiled and ignored him saved when he needed something. And he always needed something.

In fact, the only person who treated him like a person was Yao, his boss. He didn't talk slowly at him like Matthew did because he didn't understand what the tactical genius went on about half the time. Nor did Yao's mood depend on said tactical genius'. When he needed something, it was always something reasonable, like some extra folders or a new set of eyes on something he was looking at.

And maybe that's why he stuck to Yao. And maybe that's why he freaked out and whined when Yao wasn't around.

The only argument they had to date was held after the third case Kuma was around for. Yao was tired and wanted to sleep. He couldn't make it home that particular night since he had a meeting early the next day. So, on the office couch it was. After he closed the door and just as he started to doze off, he heard the insistent knocking of Kuma. The boy wanted to know if there was something he could do. When Yao said "no, go home." he was met with protests and whines. To say they had an argument was a light use of the word. It wasn't really one until Yao pried himself off the couch and opened the door.

The poor intern looked worried and tired and just utterly wrecked. He needed to go home. The heartstrings in the Asian's chest gave a tight pull. With a heavy sigh he listened to the need in Kuma's voice as he _begged_ for something to keep him around, keep close to his boss. "No, it can wait, go home and rest. Arguing with me at...three forty am is not helping your case, Mr. Muit, go home. Don't make me turn that into an order."

Kuma deflated and with one last pleading glance at Yao he left, tossing over his shoulder, "you should go home too then. You'd rest better..."

And if Yao's heartstrings pulled tight once again, well no one had to know.

_Memory End_


End file.
